Thanks to some ingenious engineers at Google, you can now turn your desktop PC into a quantum computer. Well, OK, not quite: You can simulate a quantum computer on your PC by running the Quantum Computing Playground web app for Chrome. The Playground allows you to run famous quantum algorithms, such as Grover’s, or even to write your own quantum script. Short of buying your own quantum computer — which, despite what D-Wave says, you can’t — this is the next best thing.

Microsoft’s preview of Windows 8.1 is now available to download, and one of the most exciting new features is the inclusion of Internet Explorer 11. In a massive about-turn, after declaring WebGL to be insecure and working on its own HTTP replacement, IE11 will support WebGL and Google’s SPDY protocol. HTML5 support is also much improved, and some much-needed interface tweaks have been deployed.

If you ever needed proof that web browsers are first-class citizens, capable of rendering 3D games with as much gusto as consoles or running web apps that are as feature-rich as their installed cousins, look no further than the Unreal Engine 3 Epic Citadel demo, which Mozilla and Unreal have ported to JavaScript, WebGL, and HTML5. On my three-year-old PC, the completely browser-based demo averages 140 fps at 1920×1080.

Unreal Engine 3, the game engine that runs fan favorites like Mass Effect, Gears of War, and Infinity Blade, has been ported to run inside a web browser without any plug-ins. Using JavaScript, specifically the asm.js sublanguage and Emscripten compiler, this engine can run on most any modern web browser. While this is just a tech demo, it goes to show how the web browser is starting to become a completely valid native platform for games.

Mozilla has released Firefox 15 for PCs, smartphones, and tablets. The most standout features are a completely silent background updater (like Chrome), significant memory footprint improvements, a built-in PDF reader, better SPDY protocol support, and a new native UI for Firefox Mobile on Android tablets.

Use of this site is governed by our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Copyright 1996-2015 Ziff Davis, LLC.PCMag Digital Group All Rights Reserved. ExtremeTech is a registered trademark of Ziff Davis, LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff Davis, LLC. is prohibited.